


Some Things Never Change

by yhlee (etothey)



Category: The Divine Cities Series - Robert Jackson Bennett
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 00:38:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5723050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etothey/pseuds/yhlee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shara and Mulaghesh enjoy a last few moments of vacation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Things Never Change

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Isis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isis/gifts).



Shara does not like tropical islands. This is perhaps something she should have figured out earlier in her career, but most of her career has involved the Continent, and the weather in the Continent trends distinctly non-tropical. And so she is here with a dismal _iced_ drink. The functionary who provided it to her was at pains to explain how ice is manufactured here in Dazhrat, as if it isn't the same way that people manufacture ice back home. The fact that the beverage is tea-based does not put Shara in a better mood. Why would any sane person waste perfectly good tea by (a) icing it, (b) sweetening it to the point that one could preserve eyeballs in it, and (c) _flavoring_ it with fruit juice?

She sets the iced drink down on a table where two more glasses rest, empty, condensation mixing with sea-spray on their glistening surfaces. Her left hand tightens around a coin. She doesn't look at it, doesn't have to. It's dull, and has an effaced image on it. The image sharpens into that of a sheaf of wheat in the presence of the miraculous: one small gift from Olvos, left on a corner of her desk the night before she set sail for Dazhrat. It was then that she knew that, as trying as the past year was, the one to come will be even worse.

Mulaghesh, stretched out on the beach and making no effort to hide her missing arm, is smirking up at her. "Shit, you should see your face," she says, speaking loudly so she can be heard over the crash and surge of the waves. "You look like you just drank horse piss."

"That would be preferable," Shara says. Why is the beach so damnably bright? She thought she had adjusted to wearing the dark glasses everywhere, but that was (again) on the Continent. Here, the scorching sands reflect back the sunlight. She feels a headache coming on. "I trust you've enjoyed your vacation."

Mulaghesh's eyes narrow. "You're talking like it's coming to an end."

Shara smiles at her.

Mulaghesh hoists herself up on her elbow and sighs deeply. "Aw, _shit_. How bad is it this time? Have you pissed off anyone _else_ recently?"

Shara thinks about Auntie Vinya. "Even the sea has ears," she says softly.

Mulaghesh looks at her sharply. "Anyone listening?"

Shara angles the coin so she can see its face, and shakes her head.

"Well, that's something."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Shara says. After all, she's heard that there are people researching the secret of flying machines _without_ the use of miracles. Shara is skeptical, but Sigrud says certain natural philosophers think it might be possible. Selfishly, Shara wishes that innovations in warfare would hold off until she's secured more political support against Auntie Vinya's old supporters, not all of whom approve of Shara's precipitous return to Saypur. To say nothing of newer, improved ways to eavesdrop.

"Is it so urgent that I can't enjoy one last drink?" Mulaghesh says.

Shara relents. "No, not _that_ urgent," she says. She likes seeing Mulaghesh relaxed and happy and weirdly indolent.

Mulaghesh grins tigerishly at her. "Well, in that case--" She waves at one of the functionaries, specifically the one with the nicest muscles; his shirt sleeves are rolled up, what with the heat, and his shirt is half-unbuttoned to reveal an appealing expanse of chest. _Decidedly_ nonstandard attire, but Mulaghesh doesn't seem to be complaining. " _Two_ more of those drinks with lime!" she calls out, and the functionary trots off to do her bidding.

Shara shakes her head. Some things, apparently, never change.


End file.
